1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a control method corresponding to a recording medium that is a tape cassette or the like used for such purposes as data storage and that, in particular, incorporates a non-contact-type memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
What is called the tape streaming drive is known as a drive apparatus capable of recording and reproducing digital data onto and from a magnetic tape. This tape streaming drive can have an enormous recording capacity of about tens to hundreds of gigabytes, for example, though it depends on the tape length of a tape cassette as a medium. Therefore, this tape streaming drive is widely used for such purposes as backing up data that are recorded on a medium such as a hard disk of a computer main body. Further, this tape streaming drive is considered suitable for storage of, for example, image data having a large data size.
For example, a tape streaming drive of the above type is proposed which records and reproduces data by using an 8 mm VTR tape cassette as a recording medium and employing helical scanning by a rotary head.
Incidentally, in the above magnetic tape cassette, for example, since only the tape medium is a medium for recording data, management data and system setting data, and other data (i.e., various data other than main data as subjects of storage) are also recorded on the tape.
However, in actual operations, a case frequently occurs that the user wants to read out data of a tape cassette in a state that, for example, a drive is not loaded with the tape cassette.
For example, in a library apparatus (changer apparatus) that accommodates a number of tape cassettes in magazine form and supplies selected one of those tape cassettes to a tape streaming drive, it is preferable that the apparatus be able to read out certain data from cassette bodies to identify a cassette to be transported.
To this end, for example, it has been conceived that bar code labels are attached to cassette bodies and a library apparatus or the like is allowed to recognize, for example, identification information (e.g., a cassette number) by reading bar code labels with an optical reader or the like.
However, since bar codes are not rewritable and contain only a small amount of information, the above scheme is not suitable for systems that execute relatively high-level processes.
On the other hand, in the above tape streaming system, a tape cassette has been developed that accommodates a nonvolatile memory in itself.
In this case, management information of data recording and reproduction operations on a magnetic tape, manufacture information and use history information of the cassette, and other information are recorded on the nonvolatile memory. This realizes much higher operation efficiency than in the case where management information etc. are recorded on a magnetic tape.
This is due to the following reasons. Management information etc. are required to be read out and checked every time recording or reproduction of a magnetic tape is performed, as well as to be updated after a recording or reproduction operation. Where management information etc. are recorded at a particular position (e.g., the tape top) of the magnetic tape, it is necessary to run the tape so that the particular position is located at the head-acting position, every time before and after a recording or reproduction operation. Further, this determines a position of the tape for such operations as tape loading and unloading. Recording management information etc. in a nonvolatile memory dispenses with the above operations.
The nonvolatile memory is accessed by providing the tape streaming drive with a corresponding connector terminal.
In recent years, a system has been developed in which a tape cassette is provided with not only a nonvolatile memory but also an antenna and a radio communication circuit and the nonvolatile memory is accessed in non-contact form. That is, by providing a radio communication circuit also in a tape streaming drive or the like, data can be recorded in or reproduced from the nonvolatile memory in a state that no contact is made with the tape cassette.
In the case of a tape cassette having a nonvolatile memory of a non-contact-type interface scheme, it is conceivable to perform, by using the nonvolatile memory, a data read operation that is similar to the above-described data read operation that is performed on a bar code.
For example, when the library apparatus needs to select a particular tape cassette from a magazine that accommodates a number of tape cassettes, it may read out data that are specific to the respective tape cassettes by performing a radio communication.
However, practically, the above system is difficult to implement because the system is prone to interference or the like from tape cassettes that are accommodated in the vicinity of an intended tape cassette because of the radio communication nature.
Therefore, it is also difficult to realize operations of even higher levels such as an operation that a library apparatus or the like writes management information.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the invention is therefore to enable a recording medium control apparatus such as a library apparatus to properly perform high-level controls on a recording medium having a memory of a non-contact-type interface scheme.
To attain the above object, there is provided a recording medium control method that is executed by a recording medium control apparatus having an interface that can perform, in non-contact form, data transfer with a memory that stores identification information specific to a recording medium, the recording medium control method including a recognizing step of recognizing a recording medium by reading identification information from a memory of the recording medium; an identifier giving step of setting an identifier corresponding to the recording medium that has been recognized by the recognizing step, and giving the identifier to the memory of the recording medium; and a control step of controlling an operation on the memory of the recording medium with identification of the recording medium by using a command including the identifier.
A recording medium control apparatus to implement the above recording medium control method including an interface means that can perform data transfer with a memory in non-contact form by performing a radio communication with a communication device of a recording medium; an identifier setting device for recognizing a recording medium by causing the interface means to read identification information from the memory of the recording medium, setting an identifier corresponding to the recognized recording medium, and causing the interface to supply the identifier to the memory means of the recording medium and write it to the memory, and a control device for controlling an operation on the memory of the recording medium with identification of the recording medium by causing the interface to output a command including the identifier.
That is, in the invention, the recording medium control apparatus performs a control by judging each recording medium based on identification information (i.e., information specific each recording medium, such as a serial number). At this time, an identifier corresponding to the identification information is set and given to each recording medium and a command that is used in performing a control is caused to include the identifier, whereby only a particular recording medium to be controlled is caused to perform an operation corresponding to the command. As a result, an event that an unintended recording medium is controlled by a command owing to interference or the like on radio interfacing is prevented.
With the above measures, not only a judgment of a recording medium but also a variety of, high-level recording and reproduction operations on the memory in a recording medium can be performed.